In 1852, over 175,000 immigrants arrived in America. In 1854, the number
rose to over 250,000 with the port of New York being the main arrival point.
New York City became a "boiling pot" of chaotic living conditions with
widespread disease, crime, break down of family life, and innocent children
suffering.
The NYC chief of police estimated 10,000 children in the city in 1853
were uncared for.
Charles Loring Brace, a young minister, saw a dire need and felt a strong
desire to help. He turned from a well to do, secure lifestyle to that of
a poorly paid social worker by becoming the first secretary to the newly
formed Children's Aid Society, CAS.
In 1854, the organized CAS group went west. Forty children of workable
age were sent to Michigan. The placing was successful, thus the Free Home
Placing Out began and did not stop until the late 1920's or early '30's.
Western agents visited towns asking volunteers to form local communities
to screen perspective homes for the soon to arrive children.
Back in NYC children chosen for the trip would be placed in the care
of an agent, or agents, who saw to their needs. Stopping at designated
towns along the way people met the group and agent, to choose a child.
A contract was signed and a child placed. [Copies of contracts may be
obtained from the OTHSA, Inc., by members.]
Agents followed up on the placements with visits. In the event the placing
was not a good choice, the Society removed the child and placed he/she
again.
In 1865, The New York Foundling Asylum was founded by the Sisters of
Charity of Saint Vincent DePaul with 5 dollars and an empty building.
In the beginning, a basket placed in the entryway received unwanted
infants with no questions asked. A nun, on duty nearby would quickly
retrieved the child and take it to be cared for.
Sister Teresa Vincent and Sister Irene Fitzgerald were in charge of
the new child saving mission which in later years became the New York
Foundling Hospital.
In 1872, "Baby Trains" were sent out with infants and small children
to be placed with families who agreed to raise them in the Catholic faith.
The Foundling used an indenture form when placing children. This gave
them legal authority to remove the child from a household at anytime
(otherwise the child was released from the indenture at age 18). Many
families looked upon this document as a form of adoption and did not
proceed with legal adoption.
The Foundling sent large groups of children west in leased railroad
cars with agents and nurses to care for them until their destination was
reached.
Tags sewn onto the child's clothing gave a name, birth date and a name
of the pre-selected family who had been sent a matching card. A number
was assigned to each child.
When the train arrived, a match was made, papers signed and the child
delivered.
The New England Home for Little Wanderers in Boston also sent children
west to be placed. They placed children as early as 1865 but stopped the
practice in 1903.
Other societies such as The Chicago Home Society and the Minnesota Home
Society also placed children in other states.
Between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 150,000 orphaned, abandoned, homeless
children and poor families were placed out in what we today know as the
Orphan Trains Era.
This period of mass relocation of children in the U.S. is widely recognized
as the beginning of documented foster care in America.
Submitted Aug 5, 1999